Moving stairways



May 17, 1960 H.- L. KNEIPP 2,936,872

MOVING STAIRWAYS Filed May 19, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 United States Paten 2,936,872 MOVING STAIRWAYS h Hans Ludwig Kneipp, Hamburg-Wandshek, Germany, assignor to Rheinstahl Hamburg, Stahlbau Eggers & Friedrich Kehrhahn G.m.b.H., Hamburg, Germany Application May 19, 1958, Serial N va-6,360 Claims priority, application Germany May 24, 1957 Claims. cunts-16 The invention relates to improvements in moving stairways.

It is an object of the invention to make the weight of the moving stairway as small as possible, because a low weight reduces not only the manufacturing costs, but since the moving stairway is preferably assembled in the factory and then is transported to the point of erection, low weight facilitates also substantially the transportai Heretofore, the supporting frame workf structure for moving stairways were provided with solid walls or with lattice work walls made of angle irons or the like; while the upper and lower chords of the lattice works were positioned largely withinthe range of the upper steps or lower steps of the stairways so'that the available space could only be exploited with a small height of the main girder and, therefore, would berelatively heavy.

It is an object of the present invention to'overcome the above mentioned disadvantage and to construct a moving stairway with a low ,weight in that the. elements of construction for producing the supporting frame work structure consist of tubular elements which, as is well known, possess in each direction of bending the same moment of inertia or the same moment of resistance, particularly in those portions of the frame which are subjected to pressure stresses, so that the supporting frame work structure of the moving stairway can be constructed with a substantial savings in material, weight and cost.

It is, of course, generally known to construct supporting frame works of tubular elements, but for the support of moving steps as proposed in the present invention, it was heretofore not recognized that substantial advantages would be obtained when such supporting frame works are used for moving stairways.

In a supporting frame work structure for moving stairways it is necessary to connect for instance the track rails for the conveyor chains, the inner and the outer wall panels for the balustrade and the guides for the flexible moving hand rails with the supporting frame structure. The connections of these parts with the frame structure have to be made readily detachable and also adjustable and, therefore, the known constructions provide threaded connections to connect the different parts; but this method required repeated replacement of parts, is cumbersome, time consuming and not very accurate and reliable.

'It is, therefore, another object of the present invention to provide the frame structure, which is made of tubular elements, with readily detachable and adjustable connections constructed of tubular sleeves. Such con- Patented May 17, 1960 nections have good appearance and also permit an accurate adjustment of machine parts, panels and other elements of construction with respect to the supporting frame work structure.

Still another object of the invention is to employ'the upper chord of the two main girders of the frame work structure with means for supporting the two-flexible moving hand rails, so that it is no longer necessary to provide the upper chords with outwardly extending posts.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description with references to the accompanying drawings in which:

.Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of the supporting frame work structure for a moving stairway,

v Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic cross sectional view of the supporting frame work structure, substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and j Fig. 3.is a detail view of the detachable and adjustable tubular sleeveconnection.

Referring to the drawing, the two main girders 1 and 2 forming the balustrades of the movable stairway are constructed of steel tubes. The upper chords of these main girders 1 and 2 are designated with 1a and 2a respectively and the lower chords with 1b and 2b respectively. The upper and the lower chords are connected with each otherby vertically positioned tubular braces 9 and diagonally arranged braces 9b. The track rails .3 :are directly attached by tubular sleeves 4 to horizontally extending pipes 5 which connect the two main girders 1 and 2 with eachother. The other track rails 6 are connected to one end of horizontal arms 7 the other ends of which are connected by tubular sleeves 8 to the vertical tubular braces 9 of the main girders 1 and 2 of the supporting frame structure. The inner wall panels 12 and 13-are connected by means of horizontal members 12a and 13a and tubular sleeves 15 to the tubular .braces9 and the outer wall panels 10 and 11 are connected by other horizontal arms 10a and 11a and sleeves 14 to the tubular braces 9 of the girders 1 and 2.

The two upperchords 1a and 2a have attached hereto Tfixedly mounted guide rails 16 which support the two flexible moving hand rails 17. The two guide rails 16 are attached by means of horizontal arms 16a and tubular sleeves 18 directly to the upper tubular chords 1a and 2a respectively of the main girders 1 and 2 respectively.

As shown in Fig. l, the two main girders 1 and 2 are arranged in an upwardly inclined position corresponding to the angle at which the moving stairway is arranged. At the upper and lower ends where the inclined supporting girders merge into horizontal girders, the points of connection between, the inclined portion and the horizontal portion of the girders are formed by curved chord portions K which are also made of tubular members. In this manner, the heretofore rather complicated and expensive construction ofv this particular part of a moving stairway supporting frame work structure is substantially simplified. 1

Fig. 3 illustrates, by way of example, in what manner a detachable and adjustable tubular sleeve connection 8 is constructed. A semi-circular band 8a with outwardly extending cars 20 is united with the semi-circular end portion 8b of a bracket 21 by means of bolts 22 and nuts 23 passing through the cars 20 and similar ears 24 on said end portion 8b so that upon loosening of the nuts 23 the sleeve 8 may be adjusted along the tubular brace-'9. The bracket 21 has attached at its other end a track rail 6 by means of a screw 25 and bolt 26. The bracket 21 may also beprovided on its other end with another divided sleeve 8 when the other end of this bracket 21 is to be detachably and adjustably connected to another tubular brace 9 or tubular chord such as lb or 2b respectively.

What I claim is: t

1. In a supporting frame work structure for a moving stairway, a pair of main girders arranged in spaced parallel relation with each girder including upper and lower structural members preformed to provide oblique intermediate portions and straight horizontal end portions, and transversely arranged members connecting the lower structural members of said main girders with each other, said main girders and transversely arranged members being made of tubular construction elements.

2. In a supportingframe work structure for a moving stairway, a pair of main girders arranged in spaced par allel relation with each girder including upper and lower structural members preformed to provide oblique intermediate portions and straight horizontal end portions, and horizontally disposed transverse members connecting the lower structural members of said main girders with each other, the upper and lower structural members of said main girders and transverse members being made of tubular construction elements, guide rails, wall panels and hand rail supporting means, and tubular sleeve members for connecting said guide rails, wall panels and hand rail supporting means to said tubular construction elements. i

3; In a supporting frame worlr structure for a moving stairway, a pair of main girders arranged in spaced parallel relation with each girderv including upper and lower structural members preformed to provide oblique intermediate portions and straight horizontal end portions and horizontally disposed transverse members connecting the lower structural members of said main girders with each other, said main girders and horizontal members being made of tubular construction elements, said main girders being arranged with their oblique portions extending in an upwardly inclined position with the end, horizontal girder portions at the upper and lower ends of said inclined main girders extending in offset parallel planes, and curved upper and lower tubular chord members connecting the ends of said oblique structural portions of said girders with one end of said horizontal structural member portions.

4. In a supporting frame work structure for a moving stairway, a pair of main girders arranged in spaced parallel relation with each girder including upper and lower structural members preformed to provide oblique intermediate portions and straight horizontal end portions, and horizontally disposed transverse members connecting the lower structural members of said main girders with each other, said upper and lower structural members of main girders and transverse members being made of tubular construction elements, guide rails, wall panels and handrail supporting means, tubular sleeve members for connecting said guide rails, wall panels and'hand rail supporting means to said tubular construction elements, and means for detachably and adjustably connecting said guide rails, wall panels and hand rail supporting means to said tubular construction elements of a lower structural members of main girders and horizontal members being made oi tubular construction elements, guide rails, wall panels and hand rails supporting means,

' tubular sleeve members for connecting said guide rails,

al Pan n h a i s po n an to i tubular construction elements, said two main girders being each provided with reversely curved portions connecting the oblique and horizontal portions of said structural members, and means for detachably and adjustably connecting the tubular sleeve members, associated with said hand rail supporting means to said upper tubular chord members, and a guide rail fixedly attached to said hand rail supporting means, said guide rail slidably supporting a flexible hand rail. a

References Cited in the, file of this patent Great Britain July 4, 1 95.6 

